Toy.



E. P. LEHMANN.

TOY.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2, 191a.

Patented Dec. 2, 1913.

may!

" TEE. STATES PATN FFTCE.

ERNST PAUL LEHMANN, OF BRANDENBURG-ON-THE-HAVEL, GERMANY.

TOY.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNST PAUL Lun- MANN, subject of the King of Prussia, residing at No. 6 Plauerstrasse, in Brandenburg-on-the-IIavel, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in Toys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in toys, and particularly in that class of toys, which are springor motor-driven and provided with a stop-work to automatically stop the motion of the driving gear when the toy is lifted from the supporting surface, such as the floor or the table or any other platform, said stop-work being automatically released and the springor motordriven gear set free to start the motion of the toy as soon as the toy is placed on said supporting surface. Toys having a stopwork ,of such general kind are known and have been employed before, the general feature of such stop-work being this, to provide slots within the sides of the toy frame and to make one of the axles or shafts of the wheels project through said slots. On lifting the toy, the said axle will be lowered in its bearing slots, thereby causing gear wheels or pinions to come out of gear, or stops of any kind to be thrown into ongagement with gear-wheels, pinions or ratchetwl1eels of the toy, thus causing motion to be stopped. On placing the toy on its supporting surface, the said axle or shaft will be raised in its supporting slots and thereby the gearing will be thrown into engagement or the stop or stops thrown out of engagement with the moving part or parts encountered by them.

The object of my invention is to provide a stop-work of the greatest simplicity and for the use with mechanical toys of a cheap kind, which, in general, meet with a rather rough and unskilled use in the hands of children. The stop-works hitherto employed, have been principally constructed for toys of a better class and complicated construction, which, by itself, requires a more delicate or skilful handling. Levers, sliding stops and the like are greatly liable to bending or breaking in the hands of children, the use of auxiliary means of such kind should best be omitted at all. Stopwork based on the system of carrying a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 2, 1913.

Patented Dec. 2, 1913.

Serial No. 764,977.

wheel-axle in vertical or curved slots at both sides of the toy-frame have been principally employed with toys driven by a clock-spring concentrically wound up in a plane, the spring-barrel having a central or approximately central. position relative to the toy frame; the gear-wheels of such toys need to be of sufficient width to allow of being readily reengaged when thrown out of engagement by the stop vork. But with toys of the cheaper class, having a cylindrical coiled wire-spring as a driving means, the central position of the spring would be greatly objectionable, as the length of the coiled wire-spring is the principal condition for making the driving spring-power continue for a suilicient length of time. With driving wire-springs of this kind, the entire width of the toy or toy-car needs to be utilized in order to employ a spring of suflicient length. With toys of this kihd, the driving gear also will be lodged close to one side of the toy, for the reason that the axis of the coiled wire spring does not admit of mounting on it any gcarwheels elsewhere than at one or the other end of the said axle.

The improvement of my invention consists in providing bearings whereby the wheel-axle may he stopped and released, only one of said bearings being elongated to admit the rising and lowering motion of the corresponding end of said axle within said slot. The slotted hearing will be that opposite to that side of the axle which carries the driving wheel. It will be seen, that by lifting the wheel axle at one end only, the stop-work will be released, and by lowering the said. axle in its elongated slot the stop work will encounter the resistance for stopping motion; in both cases the gearing at the opposite side of the toy will not come out of gear. The material of the toy, generally of sheet-metal, is so thin, as to admitof a slight inclination of the wheel-axle in the circular bearing; said slight inclination at one end of the axle will produce a sufficient lifting of the opposite end of the said axle within its elongated slot or vertical bearing guide-way.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a wheel-frame of a sprin -driven traveling toy embodying the novel features of my invention, Figure 1 being an underside plan-view of said frame, and Fig. a longitudinal section on line AB of Fig. 1.

h is the bottom frame of a toy-car or any toy mounted on wheels, and a one of the wheel axles, )referably the hind-wheel axle to be stopped and released. As shown in Fig. 2, 0 is a vertical slot in the side 9 of the frame it, the axle a, being passed through said slot and having a play therein for being raised and lowered to a limited extent. The said slot need not be exactly vertical, but the vertical. position is preferable. The bearing in the opposite side of the toy frame is circular or approximately circulair as usual, the said circular bearing being located in a horizontal line with the upper end of said slot 0. It will be easily seen, that, on raising the toy, the wheel on that end of the axle a, which extends through said slot 0, will sink by its own gravity into the position indicated by dotted lines, with the axle a resting at the bottom-end of said slot 0. The axle a has formed or secured to it, a projecting-partor member forming an eccentric, such as a crank b, or a pin, which, when the said axle a has sunk to the lower end of its bearing 0, will encounter a suitable stop projecting into the path of said lug or crank and thereby the revolving motion of the driving gear will at once be stopped. The stop to be encountered by the eccentric portion 6 of the axle a, may be formed by simply cutting away a small portion of the inturned edge e of the toy frame It; the recess so formed within the said edge or rim 6, serving to receive the eccentric b, when the axle a is lowered in its bearing slot 0.

On placing the toy down on the table or any supporting surface, the axle a will be automatically lifted to the upper end of the slot 0, and the eccentric b will come free from the stopping recess (Z- or other stop projecting into its path of rotation.

The rotary motion is imparted to the wheel-axle a by means of a coiled wirespring 7", wound on a shaft carried in bearings in the sides of the toy-car, a drum or cylinder m, being preferably located between the axle 7: and the wire-spring f, in a wellknown manner. The drum carries at one end a ratchet-wheel z loosely mounted on the shaft is, and the spring f is attached to the ratchet-wheel, the opposite end of the spring being fixed to a gear-wheel 7' rigidly mounted on the shaft 7a. A suitable catch or pawl 0 engages the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 2', allowing the same t o turn only in one direction. The gear-wheel j meshes with a pinion 70 on an intermediate shaft 8 and a gearwheel 1" on the intermediate shaft 8 engages a pinion t on the wheel-axle a. The whole train of wheels for transmitting motion from the spring f to the wheels, being located in close proximity to one of the longitudinal sides of the car, it will be seen that the entire length of the spring-shaft 70 may be utilized for carrying a coiled wire spring of sufficient length for supplying driving power for a considerable length of time, while, if the spring were located midway of the shaft 7c, its shortness would not afford a play of suflicient length. A further great advantage obtained by providing the train of wheels close to one side of the car, co11- sists in permitting the wheel-axle a to be car-- ried in a circular bearing of approximate equal. diameter, within which bearing the wheel axle may be slightly raised without the least causing its pinion t to come out of gear with the driving gear-wheel 1', nor any other of the train of wheels to come clear of its driving connection. Such coming free of the gear wheels and pinions would be inevitable, if the wheel-axle a were lifted in an elongated bearing, the same as its opposite end. The full length of the wheel axle a between its two bearings allows of raising it sufiiciently in one of said hearings to set the stop or eccentric portion 1) free from its engaging or stopping slot, while the opposite end of the wheel-axle a needs only to be brought into a slightly inclined position within its circular bearing, without being lifted.

It will be easily seen, that owing to the single-sided slotted or elongated bearing of the axle a, sufficient play is allowed for the axle a to be lifted to such extent as to remove the stop, while, at the same time, the gearing on the opposite side of the toyframe undergoes no displacement, raising or shifting which might be the cause of undue strain or other obstacles in the working order of the toy. There are no parts liable to being deformed by rough management or unskilled use by children, within the general resistability of the material.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a toy adapted to travel by driving means of its own. a frame, an axle carried in bearings of the toy frame, one only of said bearings being elongated to admit of a lifting and lowering motion of the corresponding end of said axlewithin said bearing, driving means carried by said frame and operatively engaging said axle adjacent the other of said bearings, an eccentric carried by said axle in proximity to said elongated bearing, and a stop to be encountered by said eccentric when the axle descends to its lowered position, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a toy adapted to travel by driving means of its own, a frame, an axle carried by bearings on said frame, one only of said bearings being elongated to admit of a lifting and lowering automatic motion of the corresponding end of said axle, a crank portion formed on said axle, driving means carried by said frame and operatively engaging said axle adjacent the other of said bearings, a flange on said frame, to receive the said crank, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a toy mounted on Wheels, a frame a coiled Wire driving spring, gearing to transmit motion to the traveling wheels, a Wheel axle carried in hearings on said frame, one only of said bearings being elongated to admit of a rising and lowering motion of the corresponding end of said axle, an eecentric carried by said wheel-axle, and a stop projecting into the path of said eccentric in the lowered position of the said axle, sub- 15 stantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNST PAUL LEI-IMANN.

Witnesses VVOLDEMAR HAUr'r, HENRY Hasrnn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

